Score:10

Ubuntu

Gimp: how do you save a modified png image?

QF0

8/10/24, 5:21 PM

So... just installed Gimp 2.10.30. I need to scale down a 512x512 png image, which is presumably trivial.

However, I can't find any way to cleanly save the scaled-down image: I just get the 'There is one image with unsaved changes' message. I've tried:

File > Overwrite myfile.png
File > Export As, select the original name, and then Export

In both cases, the resulting png appears to have unsaved changes. File > Close All tells me I have unsaved changes which will be lost if I exit. File > Save attempts to save an xcf, which is of no use to me.

So, what's the secret? If I just bail out of Gimp the new image does appear to be valid.

EDIT

This is what the Close View dialog says, after selecting Overwrite myfile.png:

Close [myfile] (overwritten)

Save the changes to image '[myfile] (overwritten)' before closing?

If you don't save the image, changes from the last n minutes will be lost.

The image has been exported to '/.../myfile.png'.

And there's no way out: the options now are Save As, Cancel, and Discard Changes.

876

2 + 0

gimp

Score:18

Ubuntu

raj

8/10/24, 5:56 PM

Everything you describe is just how GIMP works. There's no problem here.

.xcf is GIMP's native image format, and only when you save image in that format, GIMP considers it "saved". Saving the image in all other formats is not considered "saving", but "exporting" (as the name of the menu option says), and exporting doesn't mean for GIMP saving a current image, but creating a new image based on the current one.

So the unsaved changes GIMP warns you about are not in the .png file, they are in the .xcf file. GIMP will never warn you about unsaved changes in other files than the .xcf one.

If you don't care about saving the .xcf file, you may safely disregard this message and quit GIMP once you have successfully exported the .png file.

+ 8

QF0

8/10/24, 6:41 PM

I'm prepared to believe this is 'how it's meant to work' but, if so, this is appalling UI design. It's also not at all obvious that `File` > `Overwrite` is an 'export'.

raj

8/10/24, 7:21 PM

I agree that GIMP's UI is not very intuitive. This application is known for this.

xenoid

8/10/24, 7:23 PM

@QF0 In the past you could just "save as" JPG or PNG. And then Gimp would nicely let you exit without any fuss. And later you discover that you have lost all the layers/channels/selection in your image because they aren't saved in a JPG/PNG. I have seen a lot more people cry over lost work than complain about this... Gimp is aimed at people who do things a lot more complex than scaling down an image. If all you need is scaling down images, there are much simpler applications.

raj

8/11/24, 9:37 AM

@QF0 I can only add to the above comment that, if you ever worked with a video editor, the difference between "saving" (as .xcf) and "exporting" (as .jpg, .png etc.) in GIMP is conceptually very similar to difference between "saving a project" and "rendering" a final movie in a video editor. Saving a .xcf allows you to save a work in progress and return to it later, while exporting produces a final product that (at least in theory) is not meant to be edited again.

Kaia

8/11/24, 5:54 PM

In photoshop the flow is the same, though the copy is slightly different. If you open a file, make changes, "Save as.." a PNG, and then quit, it'll prompt you with "save changes to the Adobe Photoshop document "filename.extension" before quitting? And if you accept, it prompts you to save a PSD

FedKad

8/12/24, 4:10 PM

Some of the upvoted comments above are quite explanatory and should be incorporated into the answer!

QF0

8/17/24, 2:48 PM

I appreciate the comparisons, but the non-intuitive part is that I opened a png, and never asked for an xcf, so I wasn't expecting to be asked to save an unnamed something that I wasn't told about, and didn't need, and didn't even know existed. For my own comparison, I've used Paint Shop Pro (the same free v7) on Windows since about ~2000. You can open a png, do what you want, and close it, with no hassles. If you do too much the program asks if you want to save a merged image. If you really need to, you can instead save as a native psp image and later merge down to png.

jrw32982

8/17/24, 5:27 PM

It seem to me the UI issue has to do with the difference between the needs of inexperienced users and experienced users of an application, in this case GIMP. The UI needs of both groups are quite different and having a single interface for both undoubtedly causes problems for both sets of users.

Score:-1

Ubuntu

dolt

8/16/24, 4:37 AM

I've been using GIMP for about 20 years, and i've never had a problem with overwrite or export.

Load your PNG file, scale/do whatever other changes, then overwrite to same PNG file or export to a new one.

+ 1

muru

8/16/24, 7:12 AM

OP doesn't say they have a problem saving to or overwriting a PNG file. The problem is that even after they do so GIMP says there are unsaved changes, which is indeed how GIMP works, as the other answer explains well.

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: Gimp: how do you save a modified png image?

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